The Forgotten Carols

During the Christmas season this year, Abby, Caleb, and I got to focus on sharing the gospel with those that came to our show.  We were part of the Montana Actor's Theater cast that put on The Forgotten Carols.  I have never seen the original play, but for years, I have loved the songs that Michael McLean wrote.  This play was an adaptation that has never been performed before.  I understand that one of the main differences is that instead of the Uncle John character singing the majority of the songs, the real characters are brought on to sing about their own stories. My favorite part was instead of a man telling Handel's story of auditioning for the Heavenly Choir (and failing miserably) it was my own little expressive Caleb portraying Handel.  He was AMAZING, if I'm not bragging too much (wink wink).  He led our choir as we sang the beautiful Handel medley that McLean wrote.  Caleb's flourishing cutoffs were something to behold.  He has decided that he would like to lead choirs now (insert ridiculously large grin here).

Here are some photos that Kent took of Caleb's performance from our last dress rehearsal:

Handel - explaining that he can't sing and can't be in the Heavenly Choir to announce the Holy Birth

Music comes directly from Handel's heart and he leads the choir - his hands are a blur :-)

The Chorus Master tells him he can't sing with the choir, but Handel has "a different voice. More orchestras and choirs than you can now imagine will give the music of your heart a voice that will echo through time."

Look at that cutoff!

It will always be a special memory that we joined hands as a cast before each show and prayed together to be able to glorify Christ, to be able to touch people's hearts. I particularly appreciated Bill, who played Uncle John.  He is not a member of our church and his faith in Jesus Christ was such a blessing and a valuable addition to this play. 

The best compliment I heard came from Kent's office assistant. She said, "If people didn't know the real meaning of Christmas before they went to the play. They could have no doubt [about the real meaning] after they've seen it."

For those interested in seeing more photos of Caleb, here is a link to our local paper's gallery of photos from The Forgotten Carols. There are even some of me putting on makeup (gasp)...I know, I know, sometimes I DO wear makeup :-)